


The Artist

by lolahardy



Series: Mistakes Made (...then set straight) [74]
Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Mpreg, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-23
Updated: 2017-02-23
Packaged: 2018-09-26 10:10:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 944
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9886466
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lolahardy/pseuds/lolahardy
Summary: Eames finds that Philip has scribbled on the wall in crayon. He tries to wash it off but this causes the paint colour to change. So he rearranges the furniture in the room until he can get Arthur out of the house for long enough and some fresh paint. Once that work is finally done Arthur takes one look, complements Eames on a job well done, then tells him not to cover for his son again. Besides. Edward had already done the same when he was small.





	

Eames was supposed to have been watching his youngest.

But instead, he let him nap on his mat with Woody and Caramel and he got distracted helping Edward with his homework before he had to take him to soccer practice. When we looked up, he saw it was almost time to go and he pet Edward’s head.

“Come on sprog. We gotta get going to practice.”

Edward nodded, standing up as he closed his books. As Eames stood up and went to look for Phillip, he saw him absent. Caramel and Woody were looking at someone just past Eames’ line of vision, so Eames didn’t’ panic.

At least, he didn’t panic yet. As he stood up and turned, he saw Phillip sitting just by the couch, coloring on the wall with one of his thick, red crayons. Eames gasped and Edward looked up as he said,

“What’s wrong dad?”

“Uh, nothing. Come on, get your uniform on.”

Edward nodded and went towards the stairs as Eames brought his hands to his hair. Arthur was going to lose his mind when he saw those big red streaks. Not wanting Phillip to witness such a scene, Eames went over and picked him up and grabbed Enoch with his other hand as he said,

“Okay, little man. You really stepped in it now. So as your father, I’m going to cover for you.”

Phillip smiled at him and Eames set him down in his pen and did the first thing he could as a temporary fix. He shoved the couch over to cover the streaks, in turn shifting everything over just a bit, just in case Arthur got back early from Briar Rose’s singing class. Afterwards, Eames immediately put Phillip in his kangaroo pouch and then took Edward to his soccer practice.

When he got back, he left Phillip in his pen and got to work on cleaning off those crayon stains behind the couch wall. He got one of the magic scrubbers from under the sink and got to work. At first, he was relieved when the stains came out but the relief didn’t last long as he sat back and realized that the scrubbing had taken off some of the paint. He just made the stain worse.

“Fuck!”

He brought his hand to his face, realizing that the only way he was going to cover this was to now paint the entire wall. And of course he couldn’t just paint one wall, he would have to paint the entire living room. He groaned and for the time being, decided to leave the furniture where it was until he could get Arthur out of the house long enough to paint the walls.

The days leading up to it, Eames did his best to match the previous paint color to the new one. Bought a few new cans of paint and stashed them in the garage and after working something out with Ariadne to invite Arthur out, (swearing he owed her big and she could cash in at any time), he took the kids to their after school activities and then got to work.

He worked fast, pushing all the furniture to the center of the room, covering everything and then thanking the painting Gods for having no primer needed paint so he could do everything in one quick, clean coat. He opened all the windows to keep the fumes out as he worked, keeping one eye on the clock, the other on the paint. He kept going, even minding the edges and when he was finished, he began to put everything away and then he checked to see everything was dry before moving all the furniture back in place. He was exhausted and paint stained, but he managed to finish. He washed his hands and arms before he went to pick up Briar Rose and Edward.

He was nodding off on the couch with Phillip on his chest, Caramel and Woody curled up beside him when Arthur came home. He lifted his head up as he Arthur came in and the pups jumped off the couch to greet him. He held Phillip up as he said,

“Hey…”

“Hi. How are the kids?”

“Edward is playing his video games, Briar Rose is playing in her room. I got the little one right here.”

Arthur smiled as he stood up straight and went over to greet Eames, both of them minding Phillip as they kissed. After Eames put Phillip down in his pen, seeing his youngest was awake, Arthur held onto him, putting his arms around him as they kissed more.

“How was dinner with Ari?”

“Great. We caught up, had a great meal. We want to do it again soon.”

“Wonderful.”

Arthur smiled, bringing his hand to Eames’ hair, smoothing it back.

“You did a great job with the living room.”

“Hm?”

“The paint job.”

Eames laughed nervously and said,

“What? I don’t-”

“I saw the big stain behind the couch. And the paint cans in the garage.”

“If you knew, why didn’t you say anything?”

Arthur chuckled.

“Because, I was teaching you a lesson. Don’t cover for your son next time.”

Eames shook his head, a small smile on his face.

“I deserve that. I thought you would be upset.”

“I went through the same thing with Edward. He loved to color on the walls all the time. It’s why I never let him color out of my sight.”

Eames laughed.

“Ah…well at least you got your walls painted.”

“I did. And like I said, you did a wonderful job.”

They kissed again and afterwards, Eames just smiled, realizing he really should have known better.


End file.
